The breadth component of the new generation undergraduate degrees will offer University of Melbourne students the opportunity to choose additional subjects from outside their major area of study, to develop other kinds of expertise. The ability to do this will be critical in the global knowledge era where technologies keep changing, and innovative, professional work relies on an international outlook and the ability to collaborate across wide and diverse networks.
Making up at least 25 per cent of a student's program, breadth subjects will expose students to alternative domains of knowledge, different methods of enquiry, enhanced personal and professional skills, and different 'ways of knowing'. Students will develop an understanding and appreciation of fields of study and disciplines that contrast with, yet complement, their major area of study. Breadth subjects will integrate perspectives from the sciences, the social sciences and humanities, and will be led by expert teachers and researchers from across the University. Climate change is an example of an issue which will be offered as a breadth subject as it cannot be understood fully from the perspective of a single discipline.
There are two types of breadth subjects:
- subjects from other new generation undergraduate degree programs
- special new university breadth subjects, such as critical thinking, climate change, catastrophes and culture
These can provide students with many options to:
- pursue a personal interest, for example in music or a foreign language
- complement a Bachelor of Science major such as Genetics, with an organisational studies subject such as 'Managing People and Organisations'
- study a university breadth subject that explores a broad topic, for example, climate change, across several disciplines
Details will be made available on the Future Students website and in the On-line Handbook 2008.
Breadth rules for the Bachelor of Engineering
- Depending upon the stream of Engineering you will need to accumulate at least 37.5 points (three subjects) and may take up to 50 points (four subjects) as breadth studies.
- There is no requirement within the Bachelor of Engineering degree that students complete their breadth subjects at any particular year level, or in any particular semesters of study.
- It is possible for one 37.5 point (three subject) sequence of breadth subjects to be taken. Students may also take all of their breadth studies in one breadth discipline (such as a language or music studies).
Breadth subjects available for Bachelor of Engineering students
- University Breadth Subjects
- Specially designed breadth subjects
- Subjects offered in the Bachelor of Arts, with the exception of Psychology and those Geography subjects that are offered in the core of the Bachelor of Science
- Subjects offered in the Bachelor of Environments, with the exception of subjects contributing to the Science and Engineering Systems cluster of majors, and their prerequisite subjects
- Subjects offered in the Bachelor of Commerce, with the exception of Quantitative Methods subjects and Financial Mathematics subjects
- Subjects in the Bachelor of Music designated as available as breadth
- Some subjects designed specifically as breadth for Bachelor of Science students that contrast with all core offerings in the Bachelor of Science, in categories such as Communication in the Sciences
- The suite of subjects offered by the Department of Information Systems focusing on implementing ICT in organisations
- English as a Second Language Subjects
In summary, subjects that may contribute to a student's Bachelor of Engineering breadth will be subjects that contrast with the science, technology and Engineering Systems subjects and sequences offered in the Bachelor of Engineering, or integrate these studies with the humanities and social sciences so that the subject encompasses a much broader arena of knowledge and skills rather than being science-focussed.
Breadth subjects NOT available for Bachelor of Engineering students
- Subjects in any area of study that contributes to the core of the Bachelor of Engineering and its major studies, including the natural sciences, behavioural sciences, mathematics, statistics, technology and Engineering Systems, whether that individual subject is offered in the core of the Bachelor of Engineering or not. For example, in addition to subjects in the core of the Bachelor of Engineering, the following subjects would not be permitted as breadth: Constructing Environments (Bachelor of Environments), Quantitative Methods I (Bachelor of Commerce), and Frontiers of Biomedicine (Bachelor of Biomedicine)
- Subjects taught by the School of Social and Environmental Enquiry that may be credited as core, prerequisite or elective subjects to Geography major in the Bachelor of Engineering
- Subjects taught by the Department of Information Systems that may be credited as core, prerequisite or elective subjects to the Science Informatics major
Breadth rules for other degrees
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